St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-26

of carly years, the memory of which is
balm and perfume waited from the
Springtime of innocence to the
wintry evening of old age. As
man aScendS to the full noontide of life.
a fiercer flame glOwS within him and
centers on one being chosen above
others. But within few hours it
waneS, and as he declines towards the
setting of life, the quieter but deeper
sentiment of paternity casts over phys
ical weakness its Subduing shadow and
crowns old age with its mellower glories.
Such is mans history in love. 1t lasts
not; its objects are few at any period of
his existence. Not such the love which
| Christ has asked and has received.
He asks to be loved above all more
than all others, with the whole heart,
the whole mind, the strongest, the most
| generous love; a love that wOOS and
wins from every pleasure that goes unto
the testimony of blood: a love before
which all others pale. or rather in which
| all others are merged, purified and
made divine. The child must love him
more than father and mother, the par
ent must love him more than child
| Nay, he claims the right to take pre-
cedence over the deepest human love.
"Who is he, where is he who puts for
ward such exactionS? All! he knows
| little of the heart of man if he knows
not that the great feeder of love is pres
J ence. and that the absent are easily for
/ gotten. Granted that for awhile the re-
/ gretS and tears of faithful few follow
| lis to the grave. Time. the great SoOther
of sorrows, stills the regrets and dries
! the tears, and, at any rate, those who
/ weep for us are soon laid to rest by our
! side, and then lover and loved are
| equally forgotten. gone from the MEM
| Ory of the generations that come after,
Obliterated like the waves of the surf
| tOppling over one another and wiping
one another away on the beach. Yes. so
! it is. SO it has been with one exception
! There is one gone from the world 1900
years ago whose cradle and grave are
Sentineled by undying love. He is the
| dream of infancy, the force of youth,
the stay of manhood, the comfort of old
age. He lies wailing on the straw of
the manger. He hangs dying on the
cross. But hourly millions of worship
ers kneel to him with uplifted hands
and swelling hearts. gaze Oh him with
fearful eyes, hail Him Lord, Master,
Brother, King of Ages; and his name is
Jesus. Aye, Lord, Thou hast drawn
unto Thyself all nations. Thou hast
lifted the world with love.
lids DttH SNcpl w IudIy
revolutions, social and religious, during
these 1,900 years, but the love of Christ
survives. PhOtius could seduce the
Greek empire from the one true fold,
but he has not driven Christ from the
hearts of the people of the East. Henry
VIII. has torn from Rome the great
English nation. but even there, in the
traditions, the love and the life of the
nation of the Babe of Bethlehem holds
sway. Luther has poisoned the Teu-
tonic races with false teachings, but he
has not torn from their souls the love of
Christ.
lis he loved above all? 60. knock at
the doors of our monasteries: ask the
young maiden, the young man who
have buried within the cloiSter. beneath
the garb of religion, beauty and wealth
perhaps, but surely youth and the hopes
of worldly future. Ask them why.
For love of Christ. He is the invisible
lover, whose love surpasses all other
lovers and leads captive in every age
HIS CHOSEN BANDS.
''That love makes the virgin the Sister
of Charity, the mother of the eOrphan and
the poor, the guardian of the fallen. the
nurse of the sick, the COM
forter of humanity in its
every misery and suffering. That
love makes the priest the missionary
and the martyr. Have they no motive?
Are they fools? They are crazed by
love, maddened by the folly of the
cross. Every love is folly to him who
understands il not. POlycarp, the aged
bishop of Smyrna, is before the pro-
consul. Swear by the fortunes of
Caesar and have done with Christ
Eighty and six years have | been His
q Il
Why should blaspheme my king and
SaviOr?' And in that love he died at
the stake. Child said Queen Blanche
to st. Louis, Il had rather see thee drop
dead at my feet than betray the
love of Christ by one mortal sim
While SymphOrian is led to eXecu-
ton outside the walls of Autun, his old
mother mounts the ramparts, like a
general to cheer on his men, and cries
out to him as he passes, Courage,
Symphorian. my son; remember Christ,
for whom thou goest to die Loved
above all! These are but three in
told millions have renOunced father and
mother, husband and wife and children
and life for the love of
Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem,
the victim of Calvary. Simon. son of
John, lowest thou Me?' Yea, Lord,
Thou knowest / love Thee Christ
has lived before His birth. He has
lived and still lives after His death. |
say He is God. | sum up and clinch the
argument with the following words
spoken in the solitude of his exile. on
the bleak island of st. Helena, by that
wonderful man who swayed the desti-
nleS OF Europe i'll the first years of this
century:
''I have been accustomed to put be-
fore me the examples Of Alexander and
Caesar, with the hope of rivaliHg their
exploits and living in the minds of men
forever. Yet, after all, in what sense
does Caesar, in what sense does AleXan-
der live? Who knows or cares anything
about them? At best, nothing but their
names is known.
NAY EVEN THEIR NAMES
do but fit up and down the world like
ghosts, mentioned only on particular
occasions or from accidental aSsOcia-
tons. Their chief home is the school
room; they are splendid examples for
themes. But there is one name that
lives; it is the name of one who has
passed his years in ObscuIity, and died
malefactOr's death. Eighteen hundred
years have gone since that time, but still
it has its hold upon the human mind.
1t has possessed the world, and il MAIN
tains its possessions. Here then is one
who is not a mere name, who is not
mere fiction, who is a reality. He is
dead and gone. but still He lives-lives
as the living, energetic thought of sue
cessive generations, as the awful motive
power of thousand great events. Can
He be less than divine? Who is He but
the Creator Himself, who is sovereign
over His own works, towards whom our